{"id":7838,"date":"2025-07-22T14:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-22T14:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7838"},"modified":"2025-07-22T14:30:00","modified_gmt":"2025-07-22T14:30:00","slug":"navy-veteran-honored-in-final-mile-ceremony","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7838","title":{"rendered":"Navy Veteran honored in Final Mile Ceremony"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"tni-source-date\"><strong>Originally published:<\/strong> 2025-07-22T14:30:00+00:00. Historical source article: benefits, rules, amounts and deadlines may have changed. Check the official source for current information.<\/p>\n<p>After graduating from high school in 1968, Jacky Lyn Branstetter joined the Navy during the height of the Vietnam War.<\/p>\n<p>Branstetter had no family when he passed away earlier this year in the Community Living Center of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.va.gov\/wichita-health-care\/locations\/robert-j-dole-department-of-veterans-affairs-medical-and-regional-office-center\/\" rel=\"noopener\">Robert J. Dole VA Medical Center<\/a> in Wichita, Kansas.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>No Ve<\/strong>teran forgotten<\/h2>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/news.va.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/07\/Bugle_Taps_r1-scaled.jpg\"><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cFortunately, we have a system in place for those situations,\u201d said Dole VA\u2019s Decedent Affairs Program Specialist Linda Rivera.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s called the Final Mile\u2014a protocol that is activated when a Veteran passes with no known next of kin.<\/p>\n<p>The Final Mile practice combines the efforts of the facility\u2019s<a href=\"https:\/\/news.va.gov\/?s=decedent+affairs\"> Decedent Affairs<\/a> Program Specialist with community support to provide memorial services for Veterans who otherwise would not be remembered or honored upon their passing. The Final Mile program ensures that all Veterans are honored\u2014not only in life, but also in death.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe arranged for his burial to take place at the Kansas Veterans\u2019 Cemetery,\u201d Rivera added. \u201cWith the support of a local mortuary, law enforcement agencies and Veteran service organizations, we were able to provide a final salute to our fallen Veteran.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>About 175 VA staff, Veterans and community members turned out to render honors to Branstetter before the procession departed the medical center for interment at the state cemetery.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/news.va.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/07\/Event-Wide-Shot_r2-scaled.jpg\"><\/a><\/figure>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"tni-attribution\">Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/news.va.gov\/141298\/navy-veteran-honored-in-final-mile-ceremony\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs<\/a>. Its Veterans is an independent publication and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the U.S. government.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Final Mile program ensures that Veterans who pass away with no next of kin are honored and not forgotten.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":136,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7838","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community-veteran-stories"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Navy Veteran honored in Final Mile Ceremony - Its Veterans<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Final Mile program ensures that Veterans who pass away with no next of kin are honored and not forgotten.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7838\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Navy Veteran honored in Final Mile Ceremony - 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